Restorative Teaching

Restorative Teaching Tools

Lindsey Pointer,

How to teach restoratively

Tacking difficult topics using restorative practices

Zero Tolerance and Tackling Racism Restoratively in UK Education | Restorative Justice Council

Restorative Practice in Secondary and Primary Schools

Restorative Justice Council

Saner Schools programme (IIRP)

About the IIRP
All humans are hardwired to connect. Just as we need food, shelter and clothing, human beings also need
strong and meaningful relationships to thrive.
Restorative practices is an emerging social science that studies how to strengthen relationships between
individuals as well as social connections within communities.

Restore: using restorative practices in schools after COVID

RESTORE provides a restorative perspective that can inform how we plan for the return
to the classrooms, playgrounds and corridors of physical schools.
It highlights seven key areas which, alongside learning, are where we need to stimulate thinking and
make decisions in order to collectively move forward into a healthy ‘new normal’. The areas intersect,
interconnect and affect each other, as we all do. RESTORE is a lens through which staff, children and
parents can look at the strategy and plans that are needed for everyone’s well-being in a fast changing
environment and for a safe and healthy return to school.

Webinars on restorative practice in learning spaces

Research and Evaluations of restorative practices in schools

Randomized controlled studies

Study of the IIRP SaferSanerSchools program in 22 Pittsburgh Public Schools by the RAND Corporation with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Comprehensive School Safety Initiative:

Research brief: Restorative practices help reduce student suspensions (Full report)
Pittsburgh Public Schools optimistic about reducing student suspensions (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Research shows restorative practices improves school climate, reduces student suspensions and discipline disparitiesResearch shows restorative practices improves school climate, reduces student suspensions and discipline disparities (IIRP News)

Other randomized controlled studies of SaferSanerSchools:

14 Maine schools by the RAND Corporation with funding from the National Institutes of Health
15 urban schools nationwide by Johns Hopkins University with funding from Atlantic Philanthropies

The Lancet (UK)

Effects of the Learning Together intervention on bullying and aggression in English secondary schools: A cluster randomised controlled trial (Chris Bonnell, Elizabeth Allen, et al., 2018)

Other key research and reviews

Research conducted by Anne Gregory, Ph.D., et al. (Rutgers University)

Implementing restorative justice in schools: Lessons learned from restorative justice practitioners in four Brooklyn schools (2016, Brooklyn Community Foundation)
The promise of restorative practices to transform teacher-student relationships and achieve equity in school discipline (2014): key findings
Authoritative school discipline: High school practices associated with lower bullying and victimization (2010)
Restorative interventions and school discipline sanctions in a large urban school district (Yolanda Anyon, Anne Gregory, et al., 2016)

WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center

Can restorative practices bridge racial disparities in schools?: Evidence from the California Healthy Kids Survey (Research Brief, July 2021)
Effectiveness of restorative justice in US K-12 schools: A review of quantitative research (Contemporary School Psychology, 2020)
What further research is needed on restorative justice in schools? (May 2015)
Restorative justice in U.S. schools: Summary findings from interviews with experts (October 2015)
Restorative justice in U.S. schools: Practitioners’ perspectives (January 2016)
Restorative justice in U.S. schools: An updated research review (March 2019)

Improving school climate: Promising outcomes across the country (The IIRP Graduate School)

Download Improving school climate: Evidence from schools implementing restorative practices (2014)
See also Findings from schools implementing restorative practices (2009)

Evaluation of a restorative milieu (Paul McCold, Ph.D., the IIRP Graduate School)

Other studies

Using restorative practices to reduce racially disproportionate school suspensions: The barriers school leaders should consider during the first year of implementation (Joseph, A. A., Hnilica, R., & Hansen, M., 2021)
A systemic evaluation of restorative justice practices: School violence prevention and response (Journal of School Violence, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Riverside, June 2020)
Restorative practices implementation report: Summary of findings (Institute for Education Policy, Johns Hopkins School of Education, 2018)
Outcomes of a restorative circles program in a high school setting (Mikhail Lyubansky, 2016)

Additional Resources:

Bailie, J. W. (2019, Spring). A science of human dignity: Belonging, voice and agency as universal human needs. IIRP Presidential Paper Series, 1, 1–16. https://www.iirp.edu/pps1

Boyes-Watson, C. & Pranis, K. (2014). Circle forward: Building a restorative school community. St. Paul, MN: Living Justice Press.

Brown, M.A. (2018). Creating restorative schools: Setting schools up to succeed. St. Paul, MN: Living Justice Press.

Burnett, N. and Thorsborne, M. (2015). Restorative practice and special needs: a practical guide to working restoratively with young people. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Cameron, L. and Thorsborne, M. (2001). Restorative justice and school discipline: mutually exclusive? In: H. Strang and J. Braithwaite (eds.) Restorative justice and civil society, pp. 180–194. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Evans, K. & Vaandering, D. (2016). The little book of restorative justice in education: Fostering responsibility, healing and hope in schools. Lancaster, PA: Good Books.

Fellegi, B. (2021, Fall). Bruising and healing: The dynamics of resolving grievances. IIRP Presidential Paper Series, 5, 1-30. https://www.iirp.edu/pps5

Greene, R.W. (2016). Lost and found: helping behaviorally challenging students (and, while you’re at it, all the others). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Hendry, R. (2009). Building and restoring respectful relationships in schools: A guide to using restorative practice. New York: Routledge.

Holland, B. (2012). Inclusive restorative justice: an investigation and exploration. London: Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

Hopkins, B. (2011). The restorative classroom: Using restorative approaches to foster effective learning. London: Teach to Inspire, Optimus Education.

Jacobson, R. (2015). Case study 5. In: N. Burnett and M. Thorsborne (eds.) Restorative practice and special needs: a practical guide to working restoratively with young people, pp. 114–116. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Langley, J. (2016). Early years restorative practices: visual script. Northampton: Small World — Big Imaginations Ltd.

O'Connell, T., Wachtel, T., & Wachtel, B. (1999). Conferencing handbook: The new real justice training manual. Piper's Press.

Reimer, K. (2019). Adult intentions, student perceptions: How restorative justice is used in schools to control and to engage. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Rundell, F. C. (2021, Summer). Processing trauma using the Relational Care Ladder. IIRP Presidential Paper Series, 4, 1-20. https://www.iirp.edu/pps4

Skiba, R.J. and Rausch, M.K. (2006). Zero tolerance, suspension, and expulsion: questions of equity and effectiveness. In: C.M. Evertson and C.S. Weinstein (eds.) Handbook of classroom management: research, practice, and contemporary issues, pp. 1063–1089. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Thorsborne, M. & Blood, P. (2013). Implementing restorative practices in schools: A practical guide to transforming school communities. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Watchel, T. (1997). Real Justice: How we can revolutionize our response to wrongdoing.

Zehr, H. (2015). The little book of restorative justice: Revised and updated. Simon and Schuster.

Zehr, H., MacRae, A., Pranis, K., & Amstutz, L. S. (2015). The big book of restorative justice: Four classic justice & peacebuilding books in one volume. Simon and Schuster.

Ziesling-Clarke, S. (2015). Case study 1. In: N. Burnett and M. Thorsborne (eds.) Restorative practice and special needs: a practical guide to working restoratively with young people, pp. 101–104. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Training courses

RJ in schools and universities

The Mint House, Oxford

Lindsey Pointer

San Diego Restorative Justice Centre

IIRP

Center for Restorative Practices

Using Restorative Circles to build community: a step by step guide